


Night Shift

by kingdomdizzy



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, M/M, drunk Sora, obviously, what would you do if a cute boy stumbles drunkenly into your store at 3 in the morning?, working the night shift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-17 21:16:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18106622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingdomdizzy/pseuds/kingdomdizzy
Summary: Just as the clock blinked to 2:47, the sound of footsteps came from the entryway. Riku listened as they paused, moved around, then pushed against the door and entered. What stumbled in was not what Riku expected.





	1. Chapter 1

“Thank you, enjoy your night.”

The two students wandered out of the store, giggling to themselves holding the box of condoms Riku had just rung up. He watched them break out into the dark night, their breath suddenly becoming visible in the brisk September air as they laughed about something unknown. Riku sat down and hunched over his laptop. 

So, this was the infamous night shift that he had been worried about. In reality, it wasn’t terrible. Just keeping himself occupied and awake had become the most difficult thing. Thankfully, he had access to coffee situated in the back of the store and still had a cup standing next to the register. He sighed. It would be easier to stay busy if it wasn’t the first Friday of school, and no homework had been assigned yet. The clock read 2:46 a.m.; his shift went until 3.

Just as the clock blinked to 2:47, the sound of footsteps came from the entryway. Riku listened as they paused, moved around (in a circle?), then pushed against the door and entered. What stumbled in was not what Riku expected.

It was a boy, probably the same age as Riku. His hair, the color of milk chocolate, was pointed in different directions and fell over his deep olive skin. The color of his eyes reminded Riku of the ocean in pictures he’d only seen in nature magazines. Riku couldn’t help but stare at this boy and think to himself that he was absolutely, undeniably, extremely… 

Shitfaced. 

“Hello there,” he chirped with a burp sounding stuck in his throat. His eyes glanced at the candy on the shelf and nearly popped out of his head. Riku just stared, frozen in his chair, as the boy tried his best to grab a Hershey’s bar from the bottom shelf. He wobbled like a newborn giraffe, trying to steady himself as his hand extended downward. For some reason, Riku was holding his breath. 

As the boy began to topple, Riku was up and around the counter with his arms out. He groaned as the dead weight landed on his chest and the smell of alcohol stung in his eyes. Oh, yeah. Absolutely wasted. The boy laughed into Riku’s shirt and pushed himself onto his feet, sending the biggest grin to Riku. At that moment, his heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

“Oops,” he sang, sending another wave of bitterness into Riku’s face, “’m sorry.”

Riku realized that his hands were gripped tightly on the boy’s shoulders but were afraid to let go. “It’s… it’s okay.” The oceans looked as deep as they could possibly be. His pupils looked like saucers, and Riku was suddenly worried that the store lights were too bright. “What’s your name?”

“Huh?”

Riku tightened his grip on the swaying boy. “Your name?”

His face lit up. “’M Sora!” He smiled again, then his face grew into a puzzling expression. “Who’re you?”

“I’m Riku,” he sighed, looking for a place to keep this poor, drunken boy. “Here,” he said, lightly pushing Sora to an empty spot on the floor by his counter. He plopped down and let out a small giggle while Riku stood in deep thought. This boy, Sora, could hardly even hold his head up straight, let alone find his way back to wherever he had come from. It was a surprise that he had even made it this far. Deep in his mind, Riku was happy that whatever drunken force was controlling him had led to this far corner campus convenience store. He was cute, even as he examined his hands so closely that steam was escaping out of his ears. 

“Woah,” he whispered, obviously having forgotten that Riku was even there. Then, without missing a beat, he looked up and asked again, “Who’re you?”

This caused a smile to spread over Riku’s face. He just looked so… innocent. Even though he obviously had just been tossing back shots upon shots of unknown alcohol that led him to this inebriated state, effectively returning him to having child-like wonder and confusion. “I’m Riku, do you know where you came from?”

Sora thought for a second. “Ummmmm, well I wassat someone’s place,” he began slowly, “it wassunt my own, buuuuut it got real loud ‘nd I didn’t like it ‘nd I want’da burger.” He shrugged like it should have been obvious. 

Riku pondered this for a minute then glances at the clock. 2:50. “Okay, Sora, I’ll take you home in ten minutes. Can you just… wait for that long?”

Sora nodded, tossing his head so far back that Riku was afraid he’d hit it against the wall. After a few seconds, he found fascination within his hands again and Riku sat in his chair, trying not to watch the clock too closely. 

No one else came in the store during that time which was a surprise since after a minute and a half, Sora, now half laying down on the floor, began loudly humming _Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_ and someone was bound to be interested in that. Riku tried waiting until the 3 a.m. mark, but after Sora began tugging on his pant leg and mumbling about his desperate need for a burger, Riku gathered up his stuff and started leading Sora to his car. 

“ _Up above the world sooooo high_ ,” Sora sang, opening his arms and spinning around while Riku silently made sure he wouldn’t wander into the street, “ _like a diamond in the skyyyyyy. Twinkle, twinkle little staaaaar, how I wonder what’re you areeeee_.”

He looked back at Riku, his cheeks rosy from the cold air and breath coming out in short breathy puffs. A lump appeared in Riku’s throat. Momentarily, he forgot how to breathe. Maybe it was because of the moonlight landing on Sora as he continued to clumsily skip down the sidewalk, or the fact that Riku had been awake for nearly twenty-four hours and his eyes had trouble opening after he blinked, but dear _god_ , Sora was beautiful. 

They eventually reached Riku’s car. He spent an extra thirty seconds trying to get the seatbelt over Sora’s flopping arms (that totally went around Riku’s neck at one point and thank god he was so drunk so he couldn’t see the blush rise to his cheeks). He finally buckled himself in and started the engine, hearing Sora laugh at the rumbling around him. “Alright,” Riku said, “where do you live Sora?”

Sora, using his breath to fog up the glass and draw pictures on it with his fingers, muttered, mostly to himself, “Uhm, erm… down the road and take a left… then ‘nother left… then…”

“Turn left where?”

“Uuuhhm… there.” He pointed through his heart he had drawn on the window to a street between a gas station and an Asian grocery store. Riku decided that it would be his best lead and started towards the road. Sora didn’t say anything as he turned down the street but looked as though he was surveying the area for anything his drunk brain could deem recognizable. Suddenly, a glow appeared from above, and Sora’s eyes grew wide. “There!”

Riku groaned as he pulled into the parking lot and turned to Sora, still wide-eyed up at the golden arches above them. McDonald's. Sora is his drunk and, apparently, starving state, had led Riku to McDonald's. He muttered something under his breath and pulled into the drive-through lane. Next to him, Sora was bouncing in excitement. “What do you want?” he grumbled.

“Double cheeseburger,” he said, gazing at Riku through his eyelashes, “with friiiiies.”

Tingles went don’t Riku’s spine and wouldn’t stop until he stopped looking at Sora. He gave the drive-through attendant his order (quietly blessing their soul for having to deal with hungry drunk kids at this time of the night) and pulled forward until they were waiting at the window. Sora seemed to be tiring out. He was slumped against the seat, his eyes spinning around as he drew stars on the window. 

The worker on the other side handed Riku a bag of food, bid them goodnight with a tired smile, and disappeared into the store. Sora ripped open the bag, nearly spilling fries everywhere, and started moaning into the double cheeseburger. 

Riku felt… conflicted. 

This guy, the same one that created a halo of light from the moon and had stars in his eyes and gave Riku this strange feeling in his stomach, was erotically ripping into his food. Riku couldn’t close his eyes in fear that he would forget what was actually happening. Instead, he waited silently until Sora took a break, sweating already. “Uh, Sora,” he said, voice cracking slightly, “I still have to take you home.”

Sora paused mid-bite to process his words. “Home…”

“Y-yeah,” Riku said. All the windows were getting fogged up from Sora’s heavy breathing. “Where am I taking you?”

“Keys…” He set down the burger and patted at all of his pockets. When nothing was found, Sora’s eyes scrunched together, and his hands rubbed against his temples. “I… I dunno where my keys are, Riku.”

This was, in the simplest of terms, a pickle. Riku wasn’t even completely sure Sora knew where his home was at this point; somehow his mangled brain knew where McDonald's was, but that was probably the extent of his memory. There was only one option left that Riku could follow through with and watching as Sora nearly fell asleep with a half-eaten burger in his lap, he signed and put his car into drive.

There were no questions from Sora as they drove. In fact, he had all but begun to snore when Riku shut the engine off and shook him awake. He looked around like a tired child and rubbed his eyes as Riku moved the bag of food into his hands to take inside. Goosebumps erupted on both of their arms when they stepped outside. Riku guessed it had to be running more towards four o’clock in the morning by now. His own residence hall lay before him, and there was no other choice than to drag Sora’s now half-drunk, half-asleep body into his own room. 

Just as they started walking, Sora fell into Riku’s side as support for his still stumbling legs. Riku tentatively put an arm around his shoulder to stabilize him, feeling butterflies explode at the way he fit perfectly into the crook of his shoulder. The end of Sora’s spikey hair tickled the bottom of his chin, but he didn’t mind. In retrospect, he hadn’t minded any of this. It seemed unfortunate that Sora would most likely forget everything by the time the sun rose. It almost… made Riku sad.

Riku slid his keycard into his door. It released with a _click!_ and Riku pushed the door open with his foot. Sora was now passed out on his shoulder and leaving a trail of drool from his shirt to the pillow on Riku’s couch. There was a squeak as Sora collapsed onto the cushions with his arms spread out in a stretch. 

He stayed like that for a few seconds before his eyelids fluttered open at Riku. “Hey,” he said almost in a whisper. Riku saw the bottom of his shirt move up to expose a small piece of skin and shivered slightly. “I have a secret.”

Riku’s eyebrow raised. Sora just beckoned him down until he crouched close enough to hear his whisper. But there wasn’t one. Sora’s hand grabbed the back of Riku’s neck and pulled him forward, crashing their lips together in a sloppy kiss. It only lasted a second before Sora’s hand dropped and he had curled up against a pillow. Riku licked his lips in shock, tasting only stale alcohol and a double cheeseburger. Something in his head told him to do it again, to dive deeper into this boy’s warm, soft lips. But he couldn’t; Sora was passed out on his couch, drunk, and there was no way he could take advantage of him like that. No matter how pretty he looked.

Riku cursed to himself. He took a blanket from his room and draped it over Sora, then tucked himself in. His mind whirled in a tired spiral at the thought of what he would have to do in the morning. How would he explain all of this? How could he explain the feeling Sora gave him? If drunk him had been so awe-striking, what would sober Sora be like?

The sun would be rising soon. Now seemed like as good a time as ever to finally get some sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for all the positive notes on the previous chapter, please enjoy xx

A slice of sunlight landed on Riku’s comatose body. A foot twitched, a piece of hair moved slightly. With a small groan, he turned onto his side and landed in the light. It took great effort to peel his eyes open and see that the sun had already risen well over the rooves of the residence halls. His first thought was: _what time is it?_ After a few flails, his hand landed on his phone and read the time. 10:24 a.m.

He rubbed his eyes with his palms, trying to see the positive side of getting roughly six and a half hours of sleep that night. One seemed to be that, if he really wanted to, he could take a nap later today. As he thought about it harder, that seemed to be the only positive. With a sigh, he rolled over. Maybe he should take the nap now, just not even bother with the middleman…

Outside his door, there was a thump. Riku’s eyes shot open as he remembered the drunk boy with spikey hair and terrible burger breath sleeping on his couch.

_Sora._

Riku rolled out of bed and slowly pried open his door. A sigh fell from his lips as he saw the boy still asleep on the couch (now completely turned around). He was even more relieved when he saw that there wasn’t any vomit on his floor. He closed the door behind him and quietly walked to his fridge. At every small sound, Riku looked back at Sora. His face was scrunched against the cushion, drool falling onto the pillow he held under his arm and fingers twitching against the carpet. 

_God,_ Riku thought, _even when he looks like an idiot, he’s cute._

After a second, he shook his head and poured cereal into a bowl. Riku had to be the dumbest person alive to get a crush on a drunk guy that came into the store. He’s even _dumber_ for bringing the said guy into his own dorm and letting him sleep on his couch. His brain recalled how far gone he had been, humming and singing and dancing in the street under the nearly full moon and stumbling towards Riku for support. When he had playfully thrown his arms around Riku’s neck to keep the seatbelt from being wrapped around him, but only caused butterflies to appear. The kiss; how sloppy his lips were, how abysmal his breath smelled, how much he terribly, _terribly_ wanted to kiss him again. 

“Shit,” he muttered. While he had been deep in thought, the milk had overflown from the bowl. He quickly reached up and ripped off a paper towel to begin cleaning the mess. 

“Shit indeed.”

Riku froze. From behind him, the couch started squeaking. Moans and groans erupted as Sora stretched out his arms and legs, nearly falling off the edge, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he yelled, “Holy _fuck!_ ”

Riku, holding a paper towel soiled in spilled milk, felt his throat go dry. He turned around and watched as Sora swung his legs over the couch and rested his head in his hands. Slowly, he peeled open his eyes again and squinted up at Riku who was in the middle of tossing the paper towel into the trash. _Try to be cool,_ Riku told himself. He grabbed a spoon, picked up his cereal bowl, and casually rested his hip against the counter. “Good morning,” he said.

However, the mouthful of cereal he had just taken fell out amidst his words. Sora remained squinting at him while he wiped his mouth and internally cursed himself out. “You… you’re Riku, right?”

“Y-yeah,” he muttered, but his chest started to pound. If he remembered that about last night… what else did he remember? Riku took another bite of cereal, careful to keep his mouth closed while he thought, then remembered that Sora was actually here, in front of him, hungover as all hell. “Is your head alright?”

Sora shrugged, rubbing his temples. “It could be better. I musta been really wasted last night if I don’t remember how I got here, huh?” His eyes squeezed shut. “The last thing I remember was a burger…”

As if on cue, Sora’s cheeks puffed up like a balloon and his hands flew over his mouth. Riku pointed his spoon to the door right next to the love seat on the other wall, and Sora sprang forward and disappeared in a whirl of terrible, grotesque vomit noises that nearly made Riku dump his cereal down the drain. However, his hunger slightly outweighed his disgust, so he kept eating while Sora emptied his stomach into the toilet. He was only able to eat half.

By the time Riku had washed his bowl and set it to dry, Sora crawled out of the bathroom and collapsed against the side of the couch, sweat lining his forehead and spikey hair drooping downwards. His breath came out in short huffs that he tried to regulate. Riku decided to sit down on the other corner of the couch, far enough away that he couldn’t smell whatever was coming from the bathroom but close enough that the heat radiating off of Sora’s skin made the hair on Riku’s arm stand up. 

“Be honest with me,” Sora sighed, “how drunk was I?”

“Well, you did sing _Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_ in the street at three in the morning,” he chuckled. Sora groaned a little, then joined in with a laugh. “You also gave me the directions to McDonald's when I asked where you lived.”

“Believe it or not, I’ve done that before,” he said, resting his head against his knees. “Sadly, most of my other friends know where I actually live, so it doesn’t always work.”

“Oh, yeah,” Riku thought aloud, “how did you end up at the store so early in the morning?”

Sora laughed and brought up his hand to scratch the back of his head. “I, uh, don’t really remember. It got way too loud at the party I was at, so my brilliant idea was to find something to eat. I really must have just wandered in there by chance.”

“Right,” Riku smiled to himself, “total chance.” He jumped up and quickly went back into his room to grab his car keys, then offered his hand to Sora. “C’mon, you look like death. Let’s get some breakfast.”

 

Going outside didn’t make Sora look any better. The bags under his eyes were still heavy, his skin was dull, and every so often his body would tremble from the cold. But even with this terrible hangover plaguing his features, Riku still found himself staring as he breathed onto the passenger window and drew shapes with his finger. He glowed in the light coming through the fog of the windshield, and he still hummed something. It wasn’t _Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_ , but it was something pleasant. 

The car came to a stop in a breakfast diner parking lot and lurched into park. They sat there for a second, the radio only giving off a muffled static, then Sora wiped his hand over his drawings and opened the door. Riku followed in suit. It was called ‘The Waffle House’, not a very original name but everyone in town knew of it. A waitress waved to them as they walked in and seated themselves. Sora chose to sit in a corner booth away from windows.

Menus were brought over rather quickly; Riku guessed that they had just missed the Sunday morning rush which he was thankful for. Sora, sitting across from him, scanned the menu then pushed it forward and took a drink of his water. Riku tilted his head. “Know what you want already?”

“As much as I hate to admit it,” Sora laughed, “this isn’t my first hungover Waffle House visit.”

“I just hope those nights weren’t as bad as this one,” Riku said, intently reading what was included in the classic breakfast plate.

“Nah,” he sighed, taking a drink again. “But the morning is already a lot better.”

Riku peaked over his menu just as the waitress appeared to take their order. Sora ordered biscuits and gravy while Riku muttered something about hash browns and eggs. “How would you like your eggs?”

“Over medium, please.” 

“It’ll be right out,” she sang, taking our menus and swaying back into the kitchen. 

“So,” Sora said quickly, “What do you do?”

Riku’s fingers fidgeted around his water glass. “Like, in school?”

“School, life, hobbies.” Sora put his elbow on the table and rested his chin. “Whatever feels the most important to share.”

The condensation on the glass under Riku’s hand tickled his palms. He liked to think of this as an excuse for why a smile lit up his face. The dim light ignited Sora’s eyes with a curious fire. Riku heard the sound of his shoes tapping a steady rhythm against the front of the bench and a small smile graced his lips that had started regaining color. He was beautiful, Riku decided; not a tired hallucination of beauty that it might have been under the moonlight as the stars twinkled like the song he sang the night before, but just a natural one. One that Riku saw right in front of him. And even if Sora didn’t think that _he_ was beautiful, that he was just being friendly like a normal person should be, Riku thought he’d indulge his feasibly fake curiosity anyway. 

Sora wanted to go somewhere tropical and study plants, so Riku called him a tree-hugger. Riku wanted to learn about business so he could create his own someday, so Sora called him commonplace (with a small chuckle as Riku tried to kick him under the table). Sora said this was the only place whose biscuits and gravy reminded him of his mom’s, so Riku had a taste and said they must be amazing. Riku lamented about how it was nonsense that people could hate breakfast food, so Sora just nodded and listened. Rarely was there silence (even when their mouths were full).

They finished their meals and when the waitress took their plates, Sora requested that the meals be on one tab. “You bought me dinner last night,” he said. “It’s only fair.”

Riku blushed. He hoped that Sora was distracted enough calculating a tip that he wouldn’t see. They left empty-handed; Riku had been much hungrier than he anticipated, and Sora’s stomach was now completely full. Sora gave him coherent directions to his place, and when Riku pulled up to the apartment complex he almost felt… disappointed. 

“Here we are,” Riku breathed. Sora nodded and got out, most likely assuming that Riku would follow, so he did. They got to his door, an apartment on the third floor with the number 304 on it, and Sora turned around with his hands in his pockets. Riku knew he had to say ‘goodbye’ or at least ‘see you later’, but he wasn’t sure which one would be better. He swallowed. “Well—”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Uh, y-yeah,” Riku stuttered. 

“This is something that has been bugging me since I woke up,” he explained. “I remember… very fuzzy details of last night, and I’m still not sure if some of them are real or not. So, I have to ask…” 

There was a pause. Sora’s foot was digging into the cement and Riku felt as though this time _he_ was going to need quick access to a bathroom. 

“Did I kiss you last night?”

Multiple situations of what could happen flew into his head. He could say ‘yes’, and Sora could feel awkward and leave him standing there without another word, or he could apologize for being drunk, say goodbye, and then disappear from his life. He could say ‘no’, and Sora will be relieved about the lack of odd obligation towards him, leave an empty promise of trying to catch up again soon, but ultimately never step foot in his convenience store again. Each option, it seemed, led to Riku and Sora parting ways. There seemed to be only one choice that Riku felt was the best. 

He took a deep breath. “No,” he lied, “you didn’t.”

Sora nodded slowly. “Alright.” Suddenly, he took a long stride forward until he was toe to toe with Riku and rested his hands on his shoulders. “Let’s fix that.”

It was slow, mostly just because for the first few seconds Riku’s eyes were wide open and his lips were frozen in shock. But Sora wasn’t fazed; he moved his hands from Riku’s shoulders to his neck and that’s when his eyes fluttered closed and their lips started to move. Sora’s mouth was warm, soft, secure against his own unsteady movements. He realized that his hands were still at his side and decided to rest them on Sora’s waist lightly so he couldn’t feel him shaking. Their noses brushed against each other as they tilted their heads more to the side, feeling the rhythm of their movements work so well together. 

Riku wasn’t sure how long this went on, but when they broke apart, they were both breathing heavier than before. Sora’s cheeks were rosy, and a smirk grew on his face. “You’re a liar.”

“I didn’t know what you would have said,” Riku chuckled, still high from the dopamine bouncing in his brain. He slowly dropped his arms from Sora’s waist and instantly felt cold.

Sora shook his head in laughter, crossing his fingers behind his head and putting on a big grin. “Yeah, yeah, likely story.” 

“So,” Riku said, looking at Sora sheepishly, “see you again sometime?”

“I’ll think about stopping by the store,” Sora teased. He gave a quick wink, then turned and disappeared into his apartment. Riku turned and bounded down the stairs to his car, still feeling the warmth on his lips that was almost as warm as in his chest. 

 

“Thank you, enjoy your day.”

The girl sent Riku a kind smile before grabbing her pre-packaged sandwich and bottle of water and disappearing out the front entrance. He glanced at the clock and felt a smile tug his lips. 2:57 p.m. He was thankful for the afternoon shifts he had been getting since trying to regain his sleep schedule was proving to be difficult. It didn’t help that certain conversations had started keeping him up anyway, but it was different. A very good-different. 

He hunched over his laptop, staring at an open document labeled ‘blah blah essay’ when a breeze blew through the store as the door opened again. When he looked up, Sora was standing with his hands in his pockets and a sparkle in his eyes like a star at three o’clock in the morning. “You ready to go?”

Riku shut his laptop and swung his bag over his shoulder, not even worrying about the minute and a half left on his shift. “Always.”


End file.
